kingjames623 wrote:fishfuego. wrote:Not true.
I saw MJ struggled in many, many games. But he also had the fortune to play in HIS position and not have to play center. The Heat asks his players cover the wrong players. Ask why Bosh and Bird can play at the same time when Chandler is killing Bosh?
People forget that Jordan performed underwhelmingly in the playoffs and in the seasons in general in his last three championship years, yet his teams were amongst the best ever. What a lot of people forget about Jordan is that he didn't even play his best/most dominant basketball when his team had its two most dominant seasons, i.e., 95-96, 96-97, especially in the playoffs. He shot .459 in the '96 playoffs. In fact, the last three years when he won a title, he had many sub-par playoff games where he shot near 40-42% and wasn't the primary driver for wins in those games, but his team bailed him out along with many, many favorable calls.
In the '96 playoffs, Jordan shot below 50% from the field in 11 out of the 18 games, below 45% in 8 games, below 40% in 4 games, below 30% in one game. He shot .459 overall. He got bailed out at the FT line even though he wasn't as quick or athletic as he was in his prime as he shot 187 FTs in 18 games.
In the '97 playoffs, ordan shot below 50% from the field in 13 out of the 19 games, below 45% in 9 games, below 40% in 5 games, below 30% in two games. He shot .456 overall. He got bailed out at the FT line even though he wasn't as quick or athletic as he was in his prime as he shot 148 FTs in 19 games.
In the Bulls' two BEST SEASONS, Jordan was clearly in decline and not as great or dominant of a player and yet the Bulls won just about every game. This tells you what kind of team the Bulls had and how they bailed out Jordan on many occasions. The myth that "Jordan would let X happen or Jordan wouldn't let Y happen or Jordan was always great in the playoffs and that's the reason the Bulls won" is nonsense when one looks at the stats.[/quote]
Excellent info.